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Inis Méain

WB Yeats, John Millington Synge and James Joyce were all inspired by the starkly beautiful and remote Inis Méain. More recently the acclaimed international painter (MoMa, & webcast) Sean Scully and dramatist and filmmaker (In Bruges) Martin McDonagh, have turned to the this Aran Island for inspiration. Artists and photographers continue to be drawn by its wild beauty. Even today the small middle island remains the least
visited. Acclaimed Irish writer (Brooklyn) Colm Tóibín recently set out to discover
its secrets. read on_____________

Flickr photo by Renaud CamusAbove
Treasa Ni Fhatharta at the half door of Synge's cottage, now a small
museum. This is where Synge lived for two summers at the turn of the
last century. The museum is open to visitors during the summer months.Le
Jour ni l'Heure : à "Teach Synge", Inishmaan, la restauratrice du
cottage, Mme Treasa Ni Fhatharta, arrière-petite-fille de Brid &
Paidin Mac Donnchadha, les hôtes de John Millington Synge (1871-1909)
entre 1898 et 1902 Read more from the photographer Renaud Camus

_____________________

The thatched cottages of Aran

Writer's Haven on Aran________Stay
in an environmentally friendly cottage (left and above right), a five minute walk from
"Synge's Chair," where the dramatist wrote, his notebook sprayed by
the giant waves 300 feet below. Learn more here

The front page of the New York Times culture section featured the Druid Theatre's production of "The Cripple of Inishmaan" On a sparsely populated island off
the west coast of Ireland, "Cripple" portrays the impact of the
presence in nearby Inishmore of an American film crew (for the Robert
Flaherty movie "Man of Aran") on the excitement-starved inhabitants of
Inishmaan. Notable among them is Cripple Billy , an overgrown orphan
whose chief hobby has hitherto been staring at cows. Martin McDonagh's play The Cripple of Inishmaan was staged on Inis Méain in 2005._____________________

Back in the day...

I Synge's time and until relatively recently (the 1960s), the journey ashore at Inis Meain - where the harbour was tidal - was a terrifying prospect, especially if a big sea was running. The islanders ferried the goods
from the larger boat to the shore at a place called the Oiléan Dubh
(Black Island). The islanders would throw the cargo to the waiting
women who passed it in a chain to the shore itself.